Goddess of the Forest
by Windheart
Summary: What would have happened if Daine had chosen to stay in the divine realms? Please r/r. Thanks for all the reviews so far. I've decided I will update after I get five reviews for each chapter.
1. Judgments or The last chapter of The Rea...

This is my first story, so please be nice.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, including this disclaimer.  
  
Summary: This is a story about what would have happened if Daine had chosen to stay in the divine realms. I'm pretty sure it's been done before, but I had the idea to do it before I saw that story, so please don't get mad at me.  
  
Goddess of the Forest:  
  
"Either you return to the mortal realms, to live out your life, or you stay here, a lesser goddess. Once you decide, you will never again be able to change your mind. You will never again be able to cross between the realms."  
  
Choose? she thought, numb. Choose between Ma, who never should have died, and Numair? Her father, who she barely knew, or Queen Thayet, King Jonathan, Onua?  
  
But I could be a goddess. I could do magic like Ma does. I could visit Broad Foot's home. And Kit- seeing her won't be a trouble, since she can go where she likes.  
  
What of Cloud, and Zek the marmoset, and Spots and Onua's Tahoi? Was she going to leave the Long Lake wolf pack behind? Confused, Daine buried her head in Sarra's shoulder. What of Alanna the Lioness, and Maura of Dunlath? Could she spend their lives watching them from the divine realms, and never being with them?  
  
Numair. From their very first meeting, he'd given her joy, delight, new things to learn. He was her teacher, her traveling companion, her comrade in arms. He was her love. When he kissed her. She could not give him up, not willingly.  
  
She lifted her head as her heart turned to ice. She had promised Ma that she would return. She'd given her word. And she could not go back on it.  
  
"I- I want to stay here," she heard herself saying. She turned to Mithros. "Could I at least- tell Numair what happened?"  
  
"Of course." He raised his hand, and suddenly Numair was there.  
  
"I- I have to stay here," she told him. "I promised, and- my parents are here. I just needed to say goodbye." He said nothing, but a tear ran down his cheek. And then he was gone. She felt her own cheeks soaked with tears. "I'll miss you all so much." she said to the empty air.  
  
"It is done then," Mithros said. "You will be the Goddess of the Forest, and of the People and humans that make their homes there."  
  
She turned to her mother. "I can stay with you now."  
  
"Oh, Sweet," her mother said.  
  
And then she, Sarra, and Weiryn were back at the house where they had first brought her. 


	2. First Decisions

This is my first story, so please be nice.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, including this disclaimer.  
  
Summary: This is a story about what would have happened if Daine had chosen to stay in the divine realms. I'm pretty sure it's been done before, but I had the idea to do it before I saw that story, so please don't get mad at me.  
  
Previously: (Chp. 1) Daine chooses to be a goddess, and becomes the Goddess of the Forest.  
  
Goddess of the Forest:  
  
Daine concentrated on the surface of the pond. An image appeared: Numair, in his rooms, talking to King Jonathan. "I don't know. She said she promised, which is true, I was there. She said she would visit, and her mother made her promise. But now- it looks like she won't be able to come back," Numair told Jonathan. They were talking about her!  
  
"But we need her here," the king replied. "She was so helpful during the war. You said you think she's a goddess now?"  
  
"Only gods and immortals may dwell in the Divine Realms. There's no other possibility." The image disappeared as Daine lost concentration. Someone was coming up behind her.  
  
"Still pining over Numair?" It was her father. "He was- well, he was a good- a good person, for a mortal." Weiryn had never really approved of Numair in the time he had visited the Divine Realms.  
  
"They need me there. I wish I hadn't chosen this-I with I could be in both worlds."  
  
"You'll get used to it. In a while, they'll die of old age."  
  
"You married a mortal, Da. Why can't I?"  
  
"That was a different situation. Mithros already decided you couldn't go back to the mortal realms:" He left, and she concentrated on the pond again. Not Numair this time, she thought, I miss him too much. Brokefang. The old wolf and his pack had help her to avenge her mother when she was murdered by bandits, and she had in turn helped him when two-leggers had threatened to overrun their valley. He and the rest of the pack were hunting a young deer. She didn't want to watch them bring it down. Before, she hadn't cared that animals hunted and killed other animals, but when she had learned to shape-shift, and had been hunted in various animal forms, she had stopped eating most kinds of meat.  
  
Now Broad Foot, God of the Duckmoles, broke through the surface of the pond, a fish in his bill.  
  
"Don't you have things to attend to?" he said, reminding her of her duties as a goddess. "I know you miss the mortal realms but- this is the life you chose." There were things she had to do. As Goddess of the Forest, she protected the forests of Tortall and their inhabitants- which was a good job for one who, as a mortal, had been as connected with animals as she had. Humans and animals alike could ask her for help, if they made their homes in the forest. She had to pay attention to any calls for her help she might hear, and she was less likely to hear those calls if her attentions were elsewhere in the mortal realms. Her job was not unlike her mother's, but Sarra's duties did not include animals.  
  
She moved away from the pond, and back towards the cottage that was the home of her family. No one had asked for her help yet, but then, she was a relatively new goddess, and not many had heard of her. She had the permission of the great gods to project her image to those who might need her help, but she could not physically leave her father's lands. As her mother had been, and still was, she was bound to this place for a century. She could communicate with Brokefang in this way, and her other friends in the forests around Dunlath, but she hadn't tried yet. Perhaps now was the time.  
  
***  
  
Brokefang was just settling down to his portion of the deer the pack had brought down when the two-legger Daine appeared before him. I did not know you could do that, he told her.  
  
Do what? She responded.  
  
Appear out of the air.  
  
I can't. I'm a goddess now, and this isn't really me. He was surprised.  
  
How did you get to be a goddess?  
  
It's a long story. I'm the Goddess of the Forest, and I can help the People and Two-leggers who live here. I was wondering- could you convey a message to the two-leggers? Tell them what happened to me. And that I miss them. And tell them what I can do now -which is supposed to be what I'm telling you.  
  
All right, he agreed, rather confused. I will try to tell them. She disappeared again, and he went back to eating.  
  
  
  
A/N-YAY! REVIEWS! TWO OF THEM! THANK YOU SO MUCH! 


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